BP's first quarter profits tumbled by two-thirds as the coronavirus crisis hammered oil demand and the energy major's debt rose sharply as it warned of exceptional uncertainty ahead. "It is difficult to predict when current supply and demand imbalances will be resolved and what the ultimate impact of COVID-19 will be," BP said in a statement. It said oil and gas production faced "significant uncertainties" linked to plunging oil prices and tumbling demand, as well as due to a deal between OPEC, Russia and other producers to cut global supplies of crude by about 10%....
(Bloomberg) -- Crude extended its slide to trade near $11 a barrel after the biggest oil exchange-traded fund unexpectedly began selling all its holdings of the most active contract amid rapidly dwindling storage capacity.Futures fell about 11% in New York after losing a quarter of their value on Monday. The United States Oil Fund LP sold all of its West Texas Intermediate June contracts, significantly widening the spread between July WTI and raising concerns of a repeat of the collapse that sent oil below zero for the first time ever last week. U.S. producers have started making crude deliveries to the nation’s emergency stockpile as storage space runs out.Oil has lost more than 80% this year as the coronavirus outbreak vaporized demand for everything from gasoline to crude despite global efforts to stem the spread. The world’s biggest producers have pledged to slash daily output from the start of next month...
Lufthansa has not yet agreed on a 9 billion euro ($9.73 billion) rescue package, company and government sources said on Tuesday, following a report overnight that said an agreement was complete. Lufthansa declined to comment and a spokeswoman for the economy ministry had no immediate comment. Shares in the airline were up 6.9% at 0655 GMT which traders attributed to prospects of a nearing deal amid time pressure to stem ongoing losses....
Germany has agreed to help airline Lufthansa with a rescue package worth about 9 billion euros ($9.74 billion) in return for a blocking minority and one or two supervisory board mandates, Business Insider cited company sources as saying. The news outlet said representatives of the government and Germany's flagship carrier had agreed on those key points on Monday but Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr had not officially taken part in the discussions....
Novartis saw first-quarter sales climb as hospitals and patients stocked up on drugs to avoid being left short during the coronavirus crisis, lifting profits for the Swiss drugmaker. The result topped Novartis's 2020 forecast of mid to high single-digit percentage growth for revenue and high single-digit to low double-digit growth for operating profit. "We assume Q2 healthcare systems return to normal operations, and with that we can come back to our originally planned performance in 2020," Narasimhan told reporters on a call....
Swiss drugmaker Novartis reported rising first-quarter sales and profit that beat analyst expectations and confirmed its 2020 targets as the coronavirus pandemic prompted patients to stock up on their prescriptions in advance. "COVID-19 did result in increased forward purchasing by customers, including at the patient level, as some patients filled prescriptions to cover a longer period of time," Novartis said on Tuesday. The Basel-based company at this time still expects revenue to grow at a mid- to high-single-digit percentage rate, with core operating profit growth even faster at a high-single to low-double-digit rate....
"This is an important agreement for the future of connectivity in one of the world's largest telecoms markets and solidifies our position in India," Nokia Chief Executive Officer Rajeev Suri said in a statement. Nokia said the Indian firm's rollout, which will also lay the foundation for providing 5G connectivity in the future, will see some 300,000 radio network units deployed across nine circles in India, but did not give any financial details of the deal. Nokia said the deal includes Nokia's Single Radio Access Network solution, AirScale Radio Access, Baseband, related Services, and it will be completed by 2022....
